


The Sands of Time

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005), The Mummy Returns (2001)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Mummy Fusion, F/M, Romance, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:37:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7774603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saving the universe demands the ultimate price of two souls bound to one another through time and space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sands of Time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting fics from tumblr to complete collections

“ROSE!” 

His hearts shattered into a thousand pieces in his aching chest. In his dire need to get to Skaro Temple by sunrise he’d forgotten about his respiratory bypass. He wouldn’t believe his eyes, except he could _feel_ the laser piercing her stomach and felt bile rising in his throat. He stumbled up onto weak and wobbly legs to run back to her, remembering the bypass this time so he could catch her as she fell. He broke her fall, crashing to the sand on his knees as Dalek Caan and his minion strolled past towards the temple. 

“Rose, Rose, I’ve got you. I’m here.” 

For a breath he reveled in the false hope that cradling her flaxen hair, amber eyes, and warm heart in his arms would keep her safe. He could fix anything. He could fix her, foolish human hope flooding his mind right alongside the pumping adrenaline. 

“Doctor… you’ve got to…”

He pressed a kiss to her lips to hush her. It was his one chance. The part of him that he wanted to suppress, the part that felt her time line coming to a painful, screeching halt owed her a kiss. More than that. He wanted the universe at her feet. She was fading in his arms, turning a ghostly pale already. 

“Don’t…” she rasped. “Don’t do this… Doctor. You’ve got to go…”

Her brave smile twisted his hearts and wrung hot tears from his eyes that fell to her temple as he cuddled her close. He pouted against her cheek, kissing it, kissing her anywhere he could reach as he shamelessly let his grief loose. He couldn’t fix her. The TARDIS was miles away, hidden in the thick oasis jungle. The temple had nothing to offer him. He felt her fading away in his arms as her time line slowed. 

“I need you. You… you promised me forever.” 

Her eyes went darker as her smile grew braver, and she reached up to cup his cheek. “Forever was… never gonna be… long enough, Doctor.” He swallowed the words as one would a shard of glass. “The universe needs you…  _They’re_  counting on you.”

He couldn’t move. Certainly couldn’t look south of her chest. He didn’t want to see it. He chose to preserve the perfect image of a goddess in his mind. The only flaws he’d ever accept were the ones that were purely hers or the ones she was born with, the ones that only added to her perfection. He knew that she was right, that he had a duty to fulfill. She didn’t need to tell him that he’d never forgive himself. 

Rose craned her neck up, and he leaned in. Did she want another kiss? He gave her one, bestowing on her what life he had to give. She smiled against his lips, this time a real one just for him. He opened his mouth and croaked her name. She was fading fast but their last exchange was a silent one. She knew. She always knew. 

The Doctor didn’t save the universe for its sake. Not this time. He saved it for _her_ , because she would never forgive him if her death weakened his resolve that severely. It made him stronger. They were going to _pay_  for the pain they caused, if it was the last thing he did. Yes, miles off Donna, Martha, Jack and the whole of Torchwood were mounting a defense against the impending dalek invasion when Dalek Caan resurrected Davros. They were counting on him to put a stop to it. 

He did it for all that fate threw at them, for all that it had screwed him over, but could _never_  extinguish love. Rose taught him that. Time to her wasn’t the lifeblood of the universe, nor an obstacle to overcome. Forever to Rose Tyler wasn’t all that she could give but a series of adventures, memories, and most importantly, love. It surpassed her mortal existence, and they both knew it. He carried it with him into the temple and sought strength in it as he fought Dalek Caan. 

He was late. Though Dalek Caan’s existence was doomed by resurrecting Davros, once brought back to life Davros could bring forth whole armies of daleks in his place. But the Doctor wasn’t _too_  late. The odds were stacked against him. He didn’t need to see them to know that the armies of daleks were beginning to rise out of the sands. He’d been tasked by his love with putting a stop to it. For her he would. If he couldn’t put the universe at her feet he’d call himself a dalek before he’d let them win. 

He was reckless. 

“Go back to hell,” the Doctor growled viciously as he stabbed Davros through the heart (if he even had one) with the spear of Rassilon. “And take your friends with you!” 

They fell together, spinning towards what truly resembled the pits of hell. He’d done it. If anyone could spur the Doctor’s belief in the afterlife it’d be Rose. He’d find her. Somehow they’d find one another again. He had to believe it, had to have faith even as he fell. If time had an end he’d travel to it to find her. If he believed that their love surpassed time he had to believe that her spirit defied dea- 

_“I don’t think so.”_

He was rising. All over the desert he could _feel_ the daleks falling like flies but the Doctor was rising. He came out of his stupor just in time to look down, finding his body distancing itself further and further from the fiery red depths that Davros and Dalek Caan fell into. Instinct had him grappling for the temple floor as it came into reach. The Doctor came face to face with Rose as she pulled him up. 

Desire was a cruel mistress, he told himself at first. It couldn’t be Rose. He’d witnessed the sands of time claiming her life and her time line. He’d heard her wild heart come to a stop with his own ears. Except here she was, defying it all, glowing and gripping the sands of time by sheer force of will. And she was never in her life more beautiful. Of course Rose Tyler would take death and kick it to the curb. He wanted nothing more than to crumble in her arms. 

“We’ve got to go, Doctor. Think I just blew up the temple.”

She hooked arms with him and started dragging him before his feet picked up and followed obediently. Even for a Time Lord everything was happening too fast. He couldn’t wrap his head around what was going on until she called the TARDIS to them. If he could ever sleep long enough after this to let her out of his sight he was going to have wild dreams about this. And it wasn’t even over yet. Not until they were aboard the TARDIS, which she took care of flying herself. Had he mentioned yet just how gorgeous she was? 

He caught her again as the Bad Wolf left her. The first time the entity visited her it nearly killed her. This time there was only just enough left to keep Rose alive and do what she’d set out to accomplish. An unconscious - and very much alive - blessing lay in his arms. His companions watched with beaming smiles as he carried her out of the console room and to his bedchambers. 

It was there that he truly comprehended just what the Bad Wolf had done. As he kissed her awake he became acutely aware of the gift that their love had bestowed upon Rose. Rose had been right after all. As the TARDIS whisked them far away the word forever took on a whole new meaning. 


End file.
